Underwater Robotics Complex for Inspection and Laser Cleaning of Ships from Biofouling

Abstract

The survey of an underwater part of ships is the mandatory procedure by rules of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping. Periodic cleaning of the ship’s hull from biofouling increases efficiency of its motion. Inspection of the underwater part of the ship during afloat is currently carried out by divers with the underwater video system, devices for non-destructive testing of hull structures, and tools for cleaning surfaces from products of biological fouling and corrosion. The purpose of this study was to develop a new technical tool for remote surveying and cleaning of ship’s hull using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with underwater laser cleaning equipment. The design of the vehicle for inspection and laser cleaning of ships has been developed during the research. The algorithms for trajectory controlling of the vehicle over the hull surface based on wheel and propulsion system has been proposed. The navigation data for the trajectory planning was received from combination of wheel and visual odometry. The proposed technical solutions allow the hull of the ship to be inspected and cleaned effectively and safely without being placed in the dry dock as well as to quickly assess the condition of the surface with the binding of the results to the ship’s drawing.

Managing Biofouling on Submerged Static Artificial Structures in the Marine Environment – Assessment of Current and Emerging Approaches

“…Remotely operated marine robotics have been developed to remove biofilms and macrofouling from vessel hulls 2,3 (accessed September 12, 2020). Similarly, Kostenko et al (2019) reported on the use of ROVs to inspect and clean vessel submerged surfaces using laser radiation. Remotely operated brush systems are used to remove fouling from finfish farm production nets (e.g., Bloecher and Floerl, 2020).…”

Review of Underwater Ship Hull Cleaning Technologies

“…Laser technology and its application technology have made great progress in the past 30 years. Laser cleaning technology, which uses the laser radiation scanning the treated hull, has the advantages of faster surface cleaning capability, precise selective processing capability, and better cleaning process control through feedback over rotary brush and high-pressure water cleaning (Fowler 1987 ; Veiko and Shakhno 2002 ; Song et al 2004 ; Chen et al 2010 ; Kostenko et al 2019 ). Laser blasting or cleaning, as shown in Figure 9b , could be introduced commercially in many industrial fields, including underwater ship cleaning.…”

“…Chen et al ( 2012 ) developed a cleaning technique for the surface preparation of steel by using a 500-W pulsed high-power fiber laser, as shown in Figure 9a . Kostenko et al ( 2019 ) developed a new underwater cleaning system that consists of an underwater robot and laser cleaning equipment that can be used to clean the hull, as shown in Figure 9d . However, the details of the design of the cleaning laser are not given in the paper.…”

“…Magnetic force is widely used in underwater cleaning systems to hold the robot onto the ship in the vertical or overhanging (Kostenko et al 2019) hull. The adhesion principle is to use the mutual attraction between the magnet and the ferromagnetic material, such as the ship hull and marine structure, to apply direct pressure between the robot and the ship surface.…”

Inspection of Underwater Hull Surface Condition Using the Soft Voting Ensemble of the Transfer-Learned Models

“…Conventional hull cleaning is performed by divers. Recently, however, studies have been conducted on cleaning hull surfaces using a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROUV) [5][6][7][8][9]. A human operator observes the submerged hull surface through a camera mounted on the ROUV and checks its condition.…”